April 16^th, 2026                                                                                                          (no map as we never left the area)

We arrived back in Taipei from Manila about a half hour early and got through immigration and baggage claim quite quickly. We caught a taxi to our hotel (the same one we stayed in on our first night in the country). Here we just dropped our bags and tried to check in for tomorrow’s Delta flights home. (We say tried because like on the way over, Fran could never check in and she thought it might be because her name not matching her passport in its entirety.)

We called an Uber to take us to the MRT station and went into New Taipei City to check out the museum we’d missed during our first few days here (it had been closed the day we wanted to go). Took about 42 minutes on the train to get downtown and almost that much time again to find our way out of the Main Taipei Station!   It’s ginormous!

The museum itself was nearby the station and we spent about an hour browsing. Doug was disappointed that it didn’t show much about the first peoples to settle the island but we saw some interesting stuff.

 

Did you know there used to be rhinos here!?

 

So after this we were a bit peckish (we’d had a light meal on the plane enroute) and Fran wanted ice cream and lo and behold, there was a Baskin & Robbins in the train station! We enjoyed a couple of scoops and a pretzel elsewhere before taking a good 20 minutes to make our way back to the correct train. This place is ginormous!

After getting off the train at Shanbi station, we caught one of the cabs sitting there back to our hotel and got checked in. We chilled for a couple of hours before going out for dinner nearby. We were aware of a Pizza Hut nearby and we (mostly Fran) didn’t want more rice so we walked over only to find out it was just take out place so we opted to just get pizza and eat in the room.

This was a bit of an adventure; the cashier spoke almost no English and her machine wouldn’t take any of our credit cards and we didn’t have enough cash. Luckily a young woman was in line behind us and spoke enough English to not only order but assist with the payment. Finally we made a deal with a $20 USD bill, some NTD and she gave us NTD in change. While Doug waited for the pizza, Fran took some of our cash and got a few beers from the 7-11.

We went to bed around 9 as we had to be at the airport by 6:30 tomorrow morning. Check out was easy and the desk clerk called us a taxi which arrived in less than a minute, traffic wasn’t bad and we actually made it to Terminal 2 well before bag drop started. Again, Fran had trouble checking in with Delta – something to do with her name – they took some time and appear to have fixed the issue.

Before going to the gate, we wanted something to drink. We are in a Chinese country where people drink tea but do you think we could find any? It was like pulling teeth to find anything but coffee! Finally at the end of the terminal here our flight was departing from, Fran found a Starbucks and then Doug went looking for a Pepsi. He ended up back in the Duty Free part of the airport and didn’t he see a sign saying “Hokas this way”?!He went to the store and the price was good so he bought two pairs wearing one and throwing out the old ones. Then he found a Pepsi. He was very, very happy.

The flight was 10.5 hours to Seattle and we landed early. It was strange to be on such a long flight during the day essentially. We weren’t tired enough to try and catch some zzz’s. As this was our “port of entry” into the US, as usual we had to get our bags, got through immigration & customs (using our Nexus cards) and then dropped off the bags again before going through security once again.

Our flight to Seattle left the gate more or less on time but it was a while before the plane took off. Our bags arrived safely in Vegas with us and we caught an Uber home. So we left Taipei at 9:35 am its time on a Friday and arrived in Vegas at 10 am the same day – so really despite being a long flight it was all during the day.

Fran opted to try and nap for a couple of hours when we got home and set an alarm. She pretty much fell asleep right away. This helped her a great deal to adjust as she slept well that night and the next. Doug slept maybe 3 hours the first night and hardly at all the second so he resorted to Melatonin the third night and that did the trick couple with a cup of Chamomile tea before bed for a couple of nights.

It was good to be home!

Thoughts:

During our time in Taiwan we experienced rainforests, bamboo forests and lots of skinny palm trees (which for reason surprised us). The roads and subways are very good, decent to excellent cell reception almost everywhere and although there was minimal English signage, we more than managed. There was a fair bit of fog and smog and few “blue skies days” as Fran’s sister, Cynthia called them in her time living in Beijing.

While not super pedestrian friendly (not always a sidewalk or they’ll be motorbikes or cars parked on it), the pedestrian crosswalks signals are cute; first they show a green man strolling along while a countdown is running about him and when it gets down to 10 seconds he begins to run, then he flashes before turning red.

Driving through towns if you need a bathroom, you can almost always count on 7-11’s to have them as well as often having wi-fi, sit down areas to hit and ATM’s. The sign will indicate what is offered.

There are plenty of motorcycles and at traffic lights they have a special area to wait in; sometimes it’s set up for them to make their left turns from as well. Fuel was cheaper than we expected (beer was pricier) but we expect the government subsidizes it and it probably comes from China. When travelling on winding roads, there are plenty of mirrors on turns and switchbacks to help guide you. Drivers are not super friendly but if you’re walking around, they will smile and talk to you. It’s a very clean country as well.

Fun facts:

1. Instead of noisy compactors, Taiwan’s garbage trucks play classical music to alert residents to bring out their trash.
2. Taiwan has one of the highest densities of convenience stores per person in the world, which offer services like bill payment, ticket booking, and laundry.
3. Bubble tea (boba) was invented in Taiwan in the 1980s.
4. A popular, pungent fermented tofu snack found in night markets known as “stinky tofu”.
5. Due to its diverse climate zones, Taiwan is home to over 400 species of butterflies.
6. Taiwan is the most mountainous island in the world with over 250 mountain peaks in Taiwan rise above 3,000 meters.
7. In 2017, a rainbow lasted for 8 hours and 58 minutes in Taipei, setting a world record.
8. Portuguese sailors originally named the island “Ilha Formosa,” meaning “Beautiful Island”.
9. The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) makes almost all the world’s most advanced chips. 
10. Taiwanese students spend more hours at school than any others in the world, with an average of 9.5 hours at school. And this is not even counting the many additional hours they spend at cram schools, tutoring sessions, and other classes.
11. Taiwan has 1 scooter for every 1.7 people.
12. From 2021, Taiwan’s passport finally says TAIWAN.
13. Although Taipei 101 is no longer the world’s tallest building (2004 to 2009), it still claims the title to “world’s tallest green building”.

We always chuckled at the traffic lights when we watched the pedestrian signals: